Since starting his career in high school and then leaving university to focus on his job, Heng Lee, 26, is now the owner of advertising company, Idea Solution.

Hearing a story like that, you may think Lee comes from a poor family.However, his family situation is good and his parents can support his studies and livelihood. So, why did Lee feel it necessary to stop studying and work instead?

Describing his passion, Lee said, “My job now is not my end goal and main talent in life. As a child, I wanted to work in IT and even in high school, I would install Windows and repair hardware and software for others.

“In 2007, I was studying IT at Norton University on a two-year program. I stopped because I was working and studying at the same time and my academics were suffering,” he said. “So I decided to only work. It is not the right choice for everyone, but I felt I needed the work experience for my career.”

We can say that the jobs Lee had experience in require different skill sets from his major at university. Lee worked as editor and video programmer at TV 3 for a year and then he worked at an advertising company for three years. In 2010, Lee started up his own advertising company, Idea Solution.

Lee cooperated with his friends to open Idea Solution so he is not only an invaluable staff member, but also the owner. As a staff member as well as a shareholder, Lee has a very busy job.

“My position is general manager, but I have to do all kinds of work that other staff members cannot do. I always involve my staff with ideas about company development,” Lee said.

Lee also has skills as a scriptwriter, cameraman, art and stage director and designer, among other things. How did he attain all these skills?

“I gained many skills from my work experience at former work places. My desire to learn motivates me to ask questions and do extensive research. Simply working can teach people a lot,” he said.

A ‘spot’ is a short video that runs only 30 to 45 seconds, but do you know what it takes for a producer to create these short videos?

“Spot advertising is more difficult than other advertising tasks because it takes a lot of effort and time. We can spend anywhere from two weeks to three months to make one spot advertisement,” Lee said.

Lee describes the process and difficulties of producing one spot video:

“First, we need to meet with the client to know their desired objective then we pitch three or four concepts for the client to choose from. After they decide on one, we go into pre-production. We have to design a storyboard where we draw the activities of the spot with required time limits for each frame. When the storyboard is complete, we consider the location and actors,” Lee said.

Finally, the video is edited and sound recordings are made for the spot video.

“To create the concept for the spot, the producer must watch and research a lot of videos on the jinternet. Getting concepts from others’ videos does not mean copying their ideas but taking inspiration and creating a new concept.”

Now that Idea Solution is a well-oiled machine, Lee is making plans to enlarge and develop his company hoping to expand the service in Cambodia.

In the future, Lee also plans to study abroad in a subject suitable for him. But for now, he just wants to stay and nurture his company.